Thunderstorms and Promises
by Durbe the Barian
Summary: In which Kaito meets Chris, or Quinton, and the eldest Arclight brother makes a promise.


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**Zexal Oneshot**

**Thunderstorms and Promises**

**Friendship**

**KaitoT/Chris A.**

**In which Kaito meets Chris, or Quinton, and the eldest Arclight brother makes a promise.**

**(Don't own Zexal. If I did, Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon would be the female twin to Galaxy-Eyes Tachyon Dragon.)**

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx **

Thunderstorms and Promises

Over fifty kids had been drained during their practice duels. Only three or four kids became the next **elite**, the kids that would be trained as professional duelists in Heartland tower. Kaito didn't know them. He knew he was picked as one of the three or four, but that was all. He didn't have time to look through something as simple as a reminder board. He'd just figure it out later anyway. Right now, he needed to see his little brother, the very reason he was willing to undergo the humiliation of wearing a ridiculous skin-tight outfit and the pain of the direct attacks from Heartland's duel robot.

Haruto's room was opposite of his own in many ways. His room was so small, he occasionally found it hard to move around. (What with all the junk that his roommate had brought in.) Haruto's room was nearly big enough for a party or something. He slept at the Duelist dorm near Heartland Tower's base, Haruto was kept on the top floor of the "glorious" symbol of Heartland. Lately, Kaito was having a hard time believing that it was a great symbol. To him, it was simply a reminder of how much more he was to do until his little brother was fine again. He couldn't see him during the day due to work and practice, so Kaito would often sneak out of the bunk house, not even bothering to change, and would go to Haruto's bedroom one way or another.

So when night fell after a particularly rough day of training, Kaito decided to see his brother. He pushed himself out of the top bunk, despite his aching muscles, and slid off his bed. He was fortunate not to wake the gorilla of a man he was to share a room with. Gauche, he believed his name was. (Rule number one in Kaito's room: If you don't talk to him, don't expect him to talk to you.) This guy could snore up a storm sometimes, but it was usually around that time that Kaito left the room, so it rarely bothered him.

Anyway, Kaito walked softly to the door of the room and slid on his shoes. He turned around briefly to look at his roommate. Gauche was starting to snore again, but to Kaito, that didn't matter. He turned his head back and opened the door. A slight beeping could be heard when he opened the door, sending shivers up his spine. "K-Kaito-sama," a warbled voice said.

Kaito jerked his head back and saw the source. His robot, Orbital 7, was simply talking in his deactivated state. He sighed in relief when he found Orbital hadn't woken up. Then he closed the door behind him. When he was certain Gauche, or anybody else for that matter, wouldn't hear him, he started running down the halls and out the front door. Faker, his father, had once told him that running down halls was bad manners, but compared to what Faker was doing to Haruto, Kaito was okay. Running down halls would be the last thing on people's minds.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Chris Arclight was finding it difficult to sleep. Ever since his brothers were taken to an orphanage, far away from his grasp, he would see their crying faces whenever he closed his eyes. He couldn't sleep very well after that. His big brother instincts made it virtually impossible. A few months ago, back when his brothers were still by his side, he would always put them to bed or take care of them when they were sick. Now that they were gone, he could do none of that. The fifteen year old scientist at Heartland Tower eventually gave up on sleeping and forced himself out of bed. Maybe a walk around the tower would be enough to make him fall asleep. After all, walking around the tower would be equivalent to walking a straight mile line.

Just as Chris left the tower, his long silver hair pulled back in a low ponytail, his purple and light blue fringe being the only thing that covered his face, he was greeted by the sound of arguing. Chris raised an eyebrow. Whoever it was had not only a large vocabulary for name-calling, he was also fighting with a worker of Heartland Tower. That spells trouble. He walked to the source and saw a blonde boy with green fringe arguing with a nightwatchmen. "What is going on here?" Chris thought. The boy in question was still dressed in his pajamas. "Who is that boy?"

"Come on!" the boy said. "I'm just going to be about an hour! You've let me through before!"

"How many times have you snuck in, you little brat?!" the nightwatchman asked.

Chris winced. This was not going to be good.

"Enough that you'd get fired for your inability to do your work properly, dumbbell," the boy responded.

Chris suppressed a chuckle. That was more of a child's insult than that of a grown man. This kid was still a kid. He then decided to enter the scene. "There you are!" he said, gaining the attention of both the boy and the watchman. "I was wondering where you were."

"Dr. Quinton," the nightwatchman said. "You know this boy?"

Quinton was a name that the workers of Heartland Tower used for Chris. It didn't bother him, though. He had told them to use it. He walked up to the blonde-haired boy and placed his hands on his shoulders. "You might say that," he said. "This was just a misunderstanding."

"Misunderstanding?!" the boy yelled. "This guy makes arguing with Heartland fun!"

"He's argued with Heartland?" Chris thought. "What kind of kid is he?" He then cleared his throat. "You don't have to worry anymore, sir. I was expecting this boy. But I think he got a little lost."

The boy was slowly starting to fume.

The nightwatchman raised his cap. "All right," he said. "Take him away."

"Thank you," Chris said, making his way away from the nightwatchman with the blonde boy in tow.

When they were far enough away, the boy brushed Chris' hands away. "Why did you say that?!" he asked. "I don't get lost that easily."

"But you do admit to getting lost?" Chris asked.

The boy turned a light shade of pink. Chris laughed. "Why did you lie like that?" he asked. "You don't know me, and you sure as heck weren't expecting me."

"I was impressed," Chris admitted. "I've rarely seen kids your age stand up to people like that. But what were you doing over there? Don't tell me you ran away from home or something?"

"If I had a home, maybe that would be the case," the boy said. "But I actually snuck out of the dorm so I could get into Heartland Tower."

"What's so special about that place?" Chris asked curiously.

"My brother is in there," the boy said. "That's what so important."

Chris raised his eyes. "I don't have much time in the day to spend with him," the boy continued. "So I sneak out at night. He's usually still awake around that time."

"And if he's sleeping?" Chris asked.

The boy revealed a small grin. "Then it's enough for me to just see him." He then started for the tower. "Thanks for getting me out of that mess," he continued, "but I've got a brother to see. Sayonara."

"I can help you get into the tower," Chris said. The boy turned around. "I live there. They'd be fine with me coming in."

"Why would you want to help me get in?" the boy asked.

"Because, you remind me of someone," Chris said.

Yes, he did remind him of someone. Himself.

Chris held his hand out to the boy. "My name is Chris," he said. "But you can call me Quinton if you want."

The boy stared at the hand. It was as if handshakes were foreign to him. Then he slowly accepted it. "I'm Kaito," he said. "Nice to meet you, Chris."

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

True to his word, Chris helped Kaito get into the tower without any problems. Kaito thanked him and proceeded to his brother. There he was. As usual, Haruto was staring out the window of his room. Sometimes Kaito thought he shouldn't stand so close to the glass. Every time he went up there, Kaito couldn't help but think Haruto was going to fall to his death. (Big brother instincts.) "Hey, Haruto," Kaito said, putting on a nice big smile for his brother. "How's it going, buddy?"

Haruto turned around. Seeing those lifeless eyes made Kaito go cold. "Nii-san," he said. That was the most he ever said to Kaito nowadays.

Kaito fought to keep the smile on his face. Nothing made him feel worse than seeing his brother suffering like this. Sensing impending tears, Kaito gave his brother a big hug. "Gomenasai, Haruto," he said, two tears falling from his face.

Haruto turned to his brother. "Nii-san," he said. Then he surprised Kaito. "Why are you crying?" He brushed away the remaining tears on Kaito's face.

Kaito's eyes were wide with surprise. "Haruto?" he asked, placing his hands on his shoulders. "What did you just say?"

"Why are you crying?" Haruto asked again.

Kaito didn't fight the tears this time. They were tears of happiness. He hugged his brother again. "I'm crying," he said, "because I'm happy."

"Happy?" Haruto asked. "Why are you happy?"

"Because, Haruto," he said, "You're starting to talk again."

Haruto didn't say anything else after that. Instead, he placed his hands on his brother's shoulder blades, just like Kaito was doing for him.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

The alarm rang out in the dorm the next day. Kaito pulled his pillow onto his head, hoping the cotton would muffle the noise. No such luck. He poked his eyes out to see the room. Nothing had changed in the hour he was gone and the precious few hours he'd slept. He started to close his eyes again. Then a gorilla popped in front of him. "Morning, Kaito!" he said.

The blonde-haired boy let out a scream, jumped, and hit his head on the ceiling above him. Then he covered his head and muffled his groans. "Are you feeling okay?" Gauche said.

Kaito looked at his roommate irritably. The man's dark skin and dark red hair was enough to make him look freaky. But his flashy red pajamas only added to it. "I'm fine," Kaito grouched. His blast to the ceiling was definitely going to leave a mark if not a severe headache.

"Good," Gauche said. "Then let's get some chow and prepare for work! We've got some Dueling to do!"

"Honestly," he thought, "how can that guy be so energetic after waking up? It's like he's got a lunar battery in his head or something." Then Kaito slid out of bed and gave Orbital a swift kick. That robot was awake in less than three seconds.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Kaito's wakeup call that morning did not go unnoticed. A girls room, consisting of a girl named Droite and one other girl, was right next to his and Gauche's. Droite was slightly shy when it came to Kaito for some reason, so it caught him off-guard when she talked to him before practice.

All of them were now dressed in the skin-tight outfits yet again. And like Kaito, Droite didn't find them very comfortable. They were all standing in a round room, just like they had been for the past few weeks. However, instead of the usual twenty or fifty kids that would enter, only Kaito, Gauche, and Droite were there. "Where are the rest of the kids?" Gauche asked. "Sure, we may show up first all the time, but the others should be here by now."

"They won't be here," a high-pitched, almost annoying voice said through the microphone. Kaito looked up and scowled at Mr. Heartland, the very same man who took his brother away from him. "You three are the elite Duelists of this generation. So the three of you will be receiving special practice sessions."

Kaito hung his head. "Great," he thought. "Now I'll never be able to see Haruto during the day."

Gauche, however, thought it was cool. He proved that by jumping in the air, yelling, "Awesome!"

"Ugh, what a pain!" Kaito mumbled, covering his ears. "He should really learn to turn down the volume. His voice is banging in my head."

"Uh, Kaito-kun?" Droite asked.

Kaito looked at her carefully. "What is it, Droite?" he asked.

Droite started fidgeting. "Can you explain...," she began, looking down at the floor as she did so, "what happened when you woke up today? It made quite a racket."

Kaito turned his head. Unfortunately, Gauche heard the question. "I just scared him when he woke up this morning," he said, earning a death glare from Kaito.

"Are you okay?" Droite asked. She was noticing that Kaito was holding the side of his head.

"He'll be okay," Gauche answered. "He simply hit the ceiling when I scared him."

Kaito raised his duel disk. "Give me a reason not to Duel you to the floor, right here, right now?" he asked. He was in no mood for being embarrassed in front of Mr. Heartland.

Gauche raised his duel disk too. "Alright," he said. "Let's go!"

"Hold it, boys!" Mr. Heartland said. "You're not dueling each other. You're dueling this little number."

Within seconds, the duel robot appeared in the room. The three teens simply sighed it off. Kaito especially. He was really getting sick of that thing. They all activated their duel disks. "DUEL!

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

The three of them left the room, aching from the lesson. At least they were out of those ridiculous uniforms. "So, who do you think will be teaching us?" Droite asked.

"I don't know," Gauche admitted. "They said that the teachers all volunteered for it, so maybe we'll know 'em."

"I hope so," Droite said. "Who do you think will be teaching you, Kaito-kun?"

Kaito didn't answer. None of the workers there knew him well enough to teach him. And any who **did** know him well enough didn't **want** to teach him. He'd gotten on their bad sides with his attitude one too many times. He let out a small sigh. "I don't think I'll be getting one," he admitted.

"Don't think you'll be getting what?"

The teens all looked up. Chris, along with two other Dueling instructors, were standing before them. "We're your Dueling instructors," he said. "It's a pleasure to meet you."

"Chris!" Kaito said. "What the heck are you doing here?"

"I volunteered to teach you," Chris said. "And these two will be teaching your friends. Well, shall we get started?"

The teens all nodded. Kaito especially.

(Later)

"Now, Kaito," Chris said, "before I can teach you, I'll need to know a little bit about you."

"Like what?" Kaito asked. They were both sitting outside on separate benches. This gave Kaito a new meaning to the word 'confusing.'

"Well, how old are you?"

Kaito turned red. "I," went he. "I just turned 13 a few months ago."

Chris wanted to laugh. "What's so funny?!" Kaito asked.

"I'm only two years older than you," Chris said, throwing Kaito for a loop. "I simply thought it was funny." He calmed himself down. "Tell me, why do you want to Duel?"

Kaito never looked more serious in his life. "I want to help my brother," he said. "And Heartland said that in order to do that, I need to know how to Duel. That's the only reason I have."

Chris laughed at that one. Kaito turned bright red. "I'm serious! Stop laughing!"

"I'm not laughing at you," Chris explained. "I'm actually impressed."

Kaito looked dumbstruck. "Pick up your duel disk," Chris said. "Our first lesson shall be out here."

Kaito was then knocked out of his stupor. "Right," he said, readying his duel disk.

"LET'S DUEL!"

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Kaito looked outside that night. Rain was pouring down from the sky. The thunder in the sky was loud enough to make him duck for shelter, but he remembered what he had to do. Haruto was more terrified of thunder than he was. When Haruto was around 5 years old, he would often hide under Kaito's blanket when thunder struck during bedtime. After hearing the thunderclaps again, Kaito ran out of the room, out of the dorm, and into the rain, forgetting his shoes and coat.

He made it to the tower with no problems, contrary to the previous night. Just like he thought, Haruto was hiding from the thunder. "Hey, Haruto?" he asked, looking under the bed.

Though Haruto was sick, he still behaved instinctively. There he was, hiding. "Come on out," Kaito said soothingly. "The thunder's not gonna get you. I promise."

Haruto slowly accepted his hand. Then the thunder clapped again. Haruto screamed and hid further under the bed. Kaito chuckled at the sight. "It's okay, Haruto," he said. "I won't let anything hurt you. Okay?"

Haruto then pulled his hand forward and accepted Kaito's wet one. Then Kaito slowly coaxed him out.

Haruto stood in front of his brother. Kaito was shivering from the cold, though he tried not to show it. "Nii-san," Haruto said. "Are you cold?"

"I'll be fine, Haruto," Kaito said, rubbing his arms. "I just ran and didn't stop for breath."

Haruto could see right through him. "Nii-san," he said.

He wanted to wrap his arms around his brother again, but Kaito gently pushed him away, saying that he didn't want him to get wet. He was that drenched. Then the thunder clapped again, causing Haruto to instinctively jump into his brother's arms. He didn't care if Kaito was wet. He was terrified.

Kaito saw just how badly terrified his little brother was. To combat this fear, he pulled Haruto's blanket off his bed and wrapped it around him, just like he used to do. Then the two of them sat against the wall. "Remember, Haruto," Kaito said. "Thunder won't ever hurt you. It's just trying to scare you. It's like a puppy."

"A puppy?" Haruto asked.

"Yeah," Kaito said, a big grin plastered onto his face. "If it tries to scare you, just roar back at it. Give it a try."

Haruto turned back to the windows. The instant the thunder roared, he roared back. Then it stopped five minutes later. "Huh?" went Haruto. "It stopped."

"Maybe your roar scared it away," Kaito suggested, suppressing a cough.

Haruto looked at his brother with a grin. But that grin slowly vanished. Kaito wasn't looking so good.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

The next day, it was obvious that Kaito caught something. When Gauche tried to wake him up, he found that Kaito didn't change his pajamas and was still soaked to the bone. Then later that day, during practice, Kaito was moving slower than he normally did, his eyes usually being unfocused or glazed over. So when practice was over, Gauche chose to bring it up. "Kaito," he said. "Are you feeling okay?"

Kaito looked over to him. He was burning up, his throat was sore, and he felt unusually tired. But he lied. "I'm fine," he said. "I'm just a little out of it today."

"Was it because of the thunder last night?" Gauche asked. He knew very well that thunder scared Kaito out of his wits.

"It's none of your concern," Kaito said. He stood up and tried to walk away, but his legs felt like jelly. He fell to his knees, causing Gauche to run over to him.

Gauche felt his forehead. "You're sick," he said.

Kaito started to mumble. It was so soft, Gauche had to lean closer to Kaito to figure out what he was saying. "I can't get sick," he was saying. "I have to be strong for Haruto. I can't afford to...get sick. I can't..."

Then Kaito fell asleep.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Kaito opened his eyes and found himself in his dorm room. But he was resting on Gauche's bed. Not his own. In his mouth was a thermometer. A blurry figure was standing beside the bed, reaching over to check his temperature. He read the thermometer slowly. "100 degrees," he said. "Let me guess. You ran through the rain last night and didn't dry off?"

Kaito knew who it was now. "Chris?" he asked, his voice slightly raspy for some reason.

"Do you want to know what you caught?" Chris asked, sitting on his bedside. "You, sir, have caught a cold."

"Great," Kaito mumbled. "I can't let a stupid cold keep me in bed. Haruto is sicker than this." He then attempted to sit up.

Chris placed a hand on Kaito's shoulder. "There is someone who snuck out of the tower to see you, Kaito," he said, turning his head to the door.

Kaito did as well. Haruto was standing in the doorway. "H-Haruto!" Kaito said. "What are you doing here?!" Then he started coughing again. Chris started to rub Kaito's back.

"He came because he was worried about you, Kaito," he said.

Haruto then walked up to Kaito and placed his hand on his brother's face. "Nii-san," he said. "Are you sick too?"

Kaito didn't know how to answer it. But Chris came to the rescue. "He just caught a cold," he said. "Don't worry. All he needs is some sleep and he'll be fine."

"Really?" Haruto asked. Kaito was surprised. Haruto rarely spoke to anybody else. Haruto then turned back to his big brother. Then he gave him a poor, but still acceptable, hug. "Get well soon, Nii-san," he said.

Kaito returned the hug slowly. Then Haruto sat on Kaito's chair and fell asleep. Kaito was asleep shortly after.

Chris felt Kaito's face. The poor boy's temperature was starting to go down, but other than that, he was still pretty darn sick. Chris understood why though. The thunder the night before must have scared both boys out of their wits. Kaito simply ran all the way to the tower to make sure that Haruto was feeling safe. (Okay, part of it was because Kaito was scared too, but he didn't want to admit to that.) It was a very big-brotherly thing to do. Chris was only saddened that Kaito got sick like that.

A few minutes after feeling Kaito's forehead, he realized something. He was starting to think of Kaito as a little brother. The same applied to Haruto. He looked at the sleeping boys slowly. He missed his real brothers, but the two boys before him needed a big brother as well. From what he was aware, Kaito and Haruto had no parents and no place to call home.

Chris could understand that pain. He and his own brothers no longer had a place to call home. They had no mother and their father was missing. All because of Dr. Faker. Chris covered Haruto with a blanket and looked at both Tenjo boys.

He would be their big brother.

For as long as they needed him.

That was a promise. A promise he had made to two sleeping boys.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

**D.T.B: I'm not going to say anything this time around.**

**Kaito: That's a step in the right direction.**

**D.T.B: I'm not going to say anything because you got sick like that. Come on! How hard is it to get a stupid umbrella?**

**Kaito: Hey! You wrote it down! Not me!**

**D.T.B: Aieee! Kaito's mad at me!**

**Haruto: Still, I liked how you got Chris to be our big brother. That was nice.**

**D.T.B: I only did it in the way I thought he would do it. **

**Kaito: Don't change the stinking subject!**

**D.T.B: Help me! Kaito's mad because he got sick due to his own carelessness!  
Kaito: I did not!**

**Haruto: D.T.B is kind of busy running for her life, so I was told to say it in her place. Bye everybody. We look forward to working with you again~! (Meanwhile Kaito is yelling at D.T.B in the background.)**


End file.
